Mexican beer maker Minerva Brewery has introduced two new beers targeted specifically to the GLBT community. The company’s “Queer Beer” is being marketed in two brands: Purple Hand and Salamandra. Both are brewed with 100% organic honey and malt, with a recipe that “infuses the beer with a citrus flavor that appeals to the taste of the LGBT community,” according to company spokeman Dario Rodriguez Wyler.
Purple Hand takes its name from the 1969 civil rights protest of the Examiner newspaper in San Francisco. Both beers are already available in some bars and restaurants in Guadalajara, Mexico City and the Mexican resorts of Puerto Vallarta and Los Cabos. Despite interest, the brand is not yet available in the U.S.
I wonder about the taste in these beers. I’m gay, I drink beer, but the citrus flavor wouldn’t be for me. Not sure we’re a monolith, the gay beer-drinking community. But I wish anyone luck who goes out of her way to market to the gay arena.